**Adriane, Don't read unless you have completed the first part**

Three Cups of Tea

Part 1: Chapters 1-7

This book has been an inspiration to me because it so far has shown that one Man can make a difference.

It starts out with Greg climbing the K2 for his sister, Christa who has learning disabilities from what I remember as a vaccine reaction that she never recovered from. She died just before her 23rd birthday when her Mom and her were going to make a trip to celebrate. Since Greg and Christa were so close, Christa spent a month with him every year and he taught the independence no one else would give her, he wanted to honor her with climbing to the top of K2 and leaving the special necklace he had bought for her. But unfortunately he didn't make it to the end, he got lost off the trail with his guides and supplies ahead while he was stuck at dark trying to find his way back to them. He decided to do what he had too, to survive and found a place to stay until morning when he could get himself back on track. He was an experience climber and knew what he had to do to survive the weather, so he did the best he could and actually fell asleep for a period of time until finally it was daylight again! He finally finds his crew and they end up going back down the mountain as Greg was not in the greatest shape and his crew decided that was best for him, so he took the defeat and started back down the trail.

Once he was back, he wondered into a small village where he met the kindness people who had nothing but shared everything he needed to him, even as a stranger. They knew he was an outsider but still opened their hearts to him and shared a cup of tea with him to help him recover from the hardship of trying to climb K2. This few days opened his eyes to what the rest of us didn't want see or think about, how these families had hardly nothing but gave everything and that the children were given an opportunity to learn but no where near what they should of been. A teacher was out of the question as it was way to expensive to have one even once a week, so the children gathered and were given the lessons only to write their math tables in the dirt with a stick and definitely no chairs or paper were available. This appalled Greg, only wanting to do more so as he returned to the United States he was a quest to start a school as he promised for these students as they wanted to learn and didn't have the facility to do it in. So he lived in his car, he worked shifts as a nurse no one else wanted and saved as money as he could to make the school happened for what he thought he could do for as little as $12,000. Then he began writing letters to everyone he thought would listen, and it was funny to read him using an old fashion typewriter until they introduced him to the "computer" and he could write all his letters in a couple of days.

To his surprise people started to respond and he finally got the $12,000 he needed and he was off. He left his life behind, sold his car/house and told his girlfriend he would be back and things would be different as he would make a difference and he would start to live a normal life. He found locals who helped him wheel and deal prices for the things he needed, he begin learning about the culture by learning the religion and dressing like everyone else. When he got all his supplies he found a truck to transport the materials and he was off on his intended journey to build a school, now he just had to find reliable laborers to help in continue the most important part of his journey...building the school as he promised.

It has been amazing to me to see someone so dedicated to something that he promised and actually followed through with it. You don't see that very often, and the symbolism of the offering of the tea which showed that people respected him and what he was doing.

Until our next stop.....

Happy Reading!